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Clearly you've never seen a York City - Scarborough match. Shit gets real. Shame Scarborough were too rubbish to stay afloat.

Anyway, good luck to your lads against Ben Arfa, Jockie!

I did put PL, I'm aware there are some pretty vicious derbies outside the Premiership, (Bristol's, Sheffield's, Leeds versus anyone they deem to be an inferior club to them [i.e. everyone]). I'll take the offer of luck tbh, normally I would respond with something like 'Luck? hah, you should be wishing them luck against Sessegnon' but he's been canny shite so far this season.

Fortunately due to timing I have a safety net this year in that even if we do lose, a new FM has just released that will allow me to repeat the match fictitiously, until I manage to delude myself into believing that it is in fact the real result and the only one that matters.

You did indeed say Prem, I was mostly joking though. Think you're probably right, Newcastle v Sunderland is up there with the Merseyside derby. Helps when the teams are on a fairly even footing. Spurs v Arsenal has got my interesting in that respect but the fans aren't rowdy enough.

And I've been trying to tell myself I'm going to skip FM this year. Don't need it. Not sure who I'm kidding.

Could be because I HAD NO IDEA THAT WAS A THING! Oh I might as well stop pretending and go order it now.

I keep trying to persuade myself to give FM a miss as well.

I believe in steams playtime stats, of the top 6 the most recent FM's occupy 4 slots.

Does anyone know if the 'beta', like the demo in previous times, will allow you to carry on playing once the game proper comes out or will it not be backwards compatible, in which case I think I can resist.

So er, Roberto Di Matteo? Fuck me. I knew Abram was bad but I'm genuinely shocked. I probably shouldn't be given the history but wow, Roman didn't hang around. I thought Di Matteo got lucky winning the Champions League, so I don't view him as a particularly talented manager, but he's hardly messed things up beyond all repair. Chelsea have new young players that need time to settle in and work out a balanced team. Torres is a £50m flop bought by Abram, not Di Matteo. I just don't understand.

I guess Abram wants a bigger name manager for his pet club? Either that or he doesn't mind spending millions in every transfer window to prop up a club that's perpetually unstable.

I thought Di Matteo got lucky winning the Champions League, so I don't view him as a particularly talented manager, but he's hardly messed things up beyond all repair.

Agreed. But there were reports ever since the end of last season that Abramovic didn't like Di Matteo, and only reluctantly kept him on because he won the Champions League. I suspect the brief run of poor form is an excuse rather than the legitimate reason for sacking him.

Rafa Benitez, though. I dunno. He's probably the best currently unemployed manager, but is he that much of an upgrade?

Rafa Benitez, though. I dunno. He's probably the best currently unemployed manager, but is he that much of an upgrade?

It's so strange. By the looks of it Abramovic is just waiting for Guardiola to finish his time off, in which case Di Matteo was always going to get the sack in the summer. But now they've brought in Rafa who has been clearly labelled as "interim manager", presumably holding down the fort until Guardiola comes riding in.

Have to wonder what Rafa is thinking. Half a season of Chelsea wages and a nice pay-off isn't bad work I guess.

It's so strange. By the looks of it Abramovic is just waiting for Guardiola to finish his time off, in which case Di Matteo was always going to get the sack in the summer. But now they've brought in Rafa who has been clearly labelled as "interim manager", presumably holding down the fort until Guardiola comes riding in.

Have to wonder what Rafa is thinking. Half a season of Chelsea wages and a nice pay-off isn't bad work I guess.

Being Chelsea manager is the best position in management, chances are you get fired in under a year (Scolari, Di Matteo, Villas Boas) and get a ludicrous pay-off. It hardly did Ancelotti or Mourinho any long-term harm to their career prospects either.

Benitez hasn't been trusted since he messed up at Inter so it's win win for him really, gets to strut his stuff on a big stage and even if he fucks it up, he gets a big pay-day. It will be interesting to see if he can get Torres back to anything approaching form again.

Guardiola just doesn't strike me as a good fit for Chelsea or Chelsea for him.

In American Throw-Ball news, my Denver Broncos are actually looking pretty good. I'd been readying myself for the Peyton Manning thing to prove an expensive mistake but my usually relentless pessimism has been won over. :)

Being Chelsea manager is the best position in management, chances are you get fired in under a year (Scolari, Di Matteo, Villas Boas) and get a ludicrous pay-off. It hardly did Ancelotti or Mourinho any long-term harm to their career prospects either.

The difference I guess there is that Ancelotti and Mourinho are "bigger" than Chelsea, whereas Di Matteo and AVB are still forming their reputations.

Seriously, how many times has Hamilton retired from what was looking like a probable race win, or atleast podium finish, this season. Fair play to Seb, but if only McLaren had got their shit together in terms of race strategy, pitstops, and reliability, they really really had a car that should have won both championships. Plus it was the most sexeh.

Yeah, the McLaren was the most aesthetically pleasing car this year wasn't it? As it is I'm kind of glad Hamilton didn't win. Though it seemed that in the second half of the season he'd got over acting like a spoiled child and throwing tantrums at everything (to be fair he was justified in being angry on several occasions) but the whining of the last season or so turned me from indifference to hoping he'd not actually win.

Found myself in the unusual situation of cheering on Alonso (though never Ferrari!) as I felt he deserved it more, particularly for the performances early on in the season where he somehow kept getting on the podium despite having an inferior car to many.

Found myself in the unusual situation of cheering on Alonso (though never Ferrari!) as I felt he deserved it more, particularly for the performances early on in the season where he somehow kept getting on the podium despite having an inferior car to many.

Ugh, yeh tell me about it, I feel so dirty!

Regarding Hamilton, yeh he seems to have grown up a lot this year. The "is it because I'm black" episode was just embarrasing. I wish Button could win the title but right now Hamilton is by far the best chance for a British winner so I have to stomach the petulance!

It was nice to see Ferrari lose, I'm tired of their cheap tricks, even though I respect Alonso. But still, this was an amazing season, the first time I've really been into F1 for a long time. Hopefully next year will be comparable.